In the lead up to the presidential election, candidates Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump have taken to appearing on podcasts to engage with potential voters.
According to Jeff Gulati, a political science professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., Harris and Trump’s podcast appearances are simply another part of their larger campaign and communication strategy.
For Trump, this includes appealing to young, often politically unengaged men, who are “predisposed to support him but less likely to vote,” Gulati says. The so-called “bro vote” is why Trump’s podcast appearances have landed him in the studios of bro-legends like Joe Rogan and Theo Von. The hope being that these appearances will ingratiate Trump with these young men, enough to bring them out to the polls.
“It’s a risky strategy,” Gulati says. “It’s the same thing as his McDonald’s appearance: he’s not trying to pretend like he’s a regular guy, but that he really is the voice of the regular guy, and that he speaks for them.”
Harris, for her part, is selecting her podcast appearances much differently. Though it was rumored that she would also be on Joe Rogan, in her hunt for male voters, she has so far chosen podcasts with audiences that predominantly focus on women and young Black men.
“The Harris campaign feels like that they will win this election if they can really take advantage of this gender gap that they have,” Gulati says, emphasizing that Harris’ strategy is less risky than Trump’s. “The Harris campaign is focusing on people that they think are already engaged, [in a bid to] to get them more engaged.”
Read More: Harris Battles for the Bro Vote
Below are some of the key highlights from the major podcast appearances made by Harris and Trump.
Kamala Harris podcast appearances
Call Her Daddy
On Call Her Daddy, a podcast focused on women’s issues, mental health, sex and relationships, Harris leaned mostly into her stance on abortion….
